


USS Shitty Safehouse

by WickedGood



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Betrayal, Experimentation, Hostage Situations, Pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 11:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11184057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WickedGood/pseuds/WickedGood
Summary: His friends are safe. They have a new shelter. But everything is still so loud, like a battle. Frankly, Doug is sick of it. And Hilbert says he has a cure.A Bright Sessions AU for our favorite Wolf 359 crew.





	USS Shitty Safehouse

It’s starting to get either cramped or cozy in here, Doug isn’t sure which. Cozy because they’re settled into a comfortable schedule, him and Hera and Minkowski. Hilbert is still hanging around the sidelines of everything- he hasn’t quite figured out what to do with all his guests yet, even though he’s the one who let them in. He mostly stays in the lab except for meals, and sometimes, Doug hears him pacing around the safe house. The Hephaestus he calls it. Doug calls it ‘the-way-too-damp-cave-system-in-an-uncharted-mountain’, but hey, whatever floats his science boat. Doug isn’t about to piss him off and get thrown outside into the elements. Minkowski said it wouldn’t be half bad here if everything didn’t keep breaking- luckily, Hera always knows what’s going on. That’s the schedule. Wake up, breakfast, alarms go off, Hera tells them what’s going on and the rest of them fix it. Eat some more and go to sleep. It’s better than what they were doing before, that’s for sure.

Cramped because, as usual, he can hear everything. Everything. Every alarm, every sigh, every complaint, every creak and groan of the old floorboards and bang and clash of the shitty pipes. Now normally, Doug isn’t one to pop out of bed straight away. He can and will longue with the best of them. But these days, his headaches have gotten so bad, he can’t even get up for a hour or two. He wakes up because something is too loud and can’t sleep again, so he stays laying down, eyes shut until he hears Minkowski get up. Nothing, of course, can be easy for Superhero-in-Training Doug Eiffel.

God, he wishes. Just maybe, if this was a super power, he could learn to live with it.

No. Instead, Doug is an Atypical. Humans with  _ special  _ talents. Gifts. Superhuman mutations, if you will. Minkowski, for instance, can make things levitate, which would be lame, if that didn’t include herself, which means Rene Minkowski, the uncoolest person in the world, can technically fucking fly. Then there’s Hera. Who can predict the future. Because who doesn’t want to do that? Even Dr. Alexander Hilbert has some kind of super genius gene floating around in his DNA.

What does Doug do? Wait for it.

_ Super hearing. _

So yes, before you ask, he can hear you pee a mile away.

It was useful when they were on the run. He could tell when danger was coming, but not where it was coming from unless it was an especially quiet night. You don’t know how many  _ sounds _ there are. You try pinpointing exact ones where everything in the world is either humming, buzzing, or banging these days. It hurts. A lot. Being closed off in a mountain doesn’t help, because everything has some kind of echo-y quality to it, so each sound comes back. And comes back. And comes back. And Doug wants to cut his own ears off sometimes. You’d think he’d be used to it by now.

Maybe earplugs would help, now that they’re safe-

Wait. Someone is approaching his room. By the heavy, shuffling footsteps, and the tense breathing pattern, it’s definitely Hilbert. Yeah, Minkowski and Hera are still in the dining hall, Hera prepping breakfast and Minkowski chatting with her about today’s repairs/future disasters. Hera is laughing, maybe it’ll be a good day. He can hear the hint of a smile in Minkowski’s voice as she leans back in her chair at the table and the boiling water from the stove, aw man, Hera is making grits  _ again? _ -

“Eiffel. If I may have a word.”

Doug swings his legs off the side of his bed, the fullness of Hilbert’s voice bringing back to his own room with a wince.. “You know, it’s typically considered polite to knock, doc.” 

“You hear me coming. No need.”

They stay there for a second, awkwardly. Hilbert clears his throat after a moment, and Doug winces. “That is what I’m here about.” Hilbert says, beaming- well, as much as Hilbert can beam. More like his eyes lightened slightly, and his typical frown wasn’t as hard as stone. 

Doug blinks. “Your- your cough?”

“No no. You.”

“I don’t follow.”

“I’m here to help. With your power. Each sound too loud, affecting your mental and physical states, yes? I’ve been working on a few experimental trials regarding the nature of powers, how to control them better. Your gift is not a matter of learning like Minkowski’s and Hera’s. You already know how to hear things. You need to learn how to tune out the unimportant sounds.”

Like that hasn’t occurred to Doug before. He may not be a super genius, but he’s not a complete moron. “Look doc, I’ve tried that-”

“I’m sure you have. That’s why I’m suggesting these trials. I’ve been developing this drug for a long time now, and I assure you, it’s perfectly safe. Perfectly. I was in the middle of testing it with other Atypicals when the AM caught wind of us and captured them all. I got lucky. So I can continue to help Atypicals, either by providing shelter or providing treatment. I understand your skepticism. But I do mean well.” He’s walking away, and the footsteps are too loud again, and a pipe just burst in the bathroom and Minkowski is swearing under her breath and it’s so loud and he says, “Doc, wait.”

 

“We’re too comfortable.”

“That’s the idea,” Doug says, because he’s still in bed, surrounded by at least ten blankets, and frankly, is too tired to be confused as to why both Minkowski and Hera are hanging over him like they’re waiting for something.

“No Eiffel. Not what I meant.” Minkowski continues.

“Alright, well if you don’t want to join the cuddle puddle, I’ll just ask Hera. Hera baby? What do you say?” Without waiting for an answer, he grabs her hand and drags on on top of the pile of blankets. Hera squeals happily, which is still too shrill for Doug’s ears, but the rush of the stream running in the caverns over their heads is less insistant. He doesn’t even want to see the look Minkowski is giving him right now. If he focuses, he can hear her teeth grinding behind her pursed lips.

“Eiffel, focus. I’m trying to say I think something suspicious is going on here.”

He rolls his eyes. “You always think something suspicious is going on everywhere. Commander, you’re the one who was saying it’s not a bad place to stay. Why shouldn’t we be comfortable here? What, do you not trust Hilbert?”

“Doug, I don’t trust anyone.” she said, which didn’t answer his question, and kind of stings. It’s like she’s saying Doug is wrong is let Hilbert experiment on him. It’s like she’s saying she doesn’t trust  _ Doug _ .

“She doesn’t mean that,” Hera murmurs to him, not directly in his ear but more into his shoulder, so it’s muffled and not as loud. She’s sweet like that.

“Well if you’re so nervous, what do you propose?” Doug finally says.

“Hilbert is going to be busy today, she wants to explore the places in the base we haven’t seen yet. Just in case he’s hiding something.” Hera explains, and Minkowski nods. “I know you’re going to say no Doug, so I’m going to say, please? For me? For the thrill of the adventure? And you’re going to say-”

“Well I can’t argue with someone who knows exactly what I’m going to say. But-”

“Why can’t you just look into the future and tell us what we’ll find?” Hera puffs out her chest and lowers her voice, trying to copy his signature shit-eating grin. “And I’ll say future events can all be different, because there are many different outcomes to all things. I can’t say with one hundred percent confidence what we’ll find. Soooo-”

“It’s adventure time then.” Doug finishes for her, and she grins.

 

Hera seems excited, at least. It’s enough to perk him up. He feels kind of weary, but it’s not from the echo of their footsteps this time. Secret experiments at night really drain a guy.

_ I wonder if Hera knows. _

No, probably not for sure. There are many different outcomes to all things and all that. If something were to go wrong with even the slightest possibility of it, she’d tell him. He’s sure of it. So they explore. They find nothing but old files. Other Atypicals who have stayed in the safehouse before. Someone named Lovelace, someone named Lambert. Nothing interesting, and if Hilbert knows they were snooping, he doesn’t say anything as he sticks another needle in his arm.

 

Weeks pass, not without incidents. They’re just not as noticeable to Doug anymore. He can still hear them, but it’s. So nice. Not to have everything crowd his thoughts all at once. He doesn’t even mind the alarms at this sound level. They’re almost soothing.

Well, the normal ones might be. Then there’s this powerful one that would have brought him to his knees if it wasn’t for Hilbert’s drug. He groans, and Hera jumps, and Minkowski barks, “Hilbert, what the hell?”

“That’s the intruder alarm!”

“Intruders?! Eiffel, didn’t you hear them coming?”

“Forget why he did not hear, why did  _ Hera _ not see?!” Hilbert snaps, then runs out of the room, calling back, “I’ll see if I can enhance security in time!”

With a real emergency, and Hilbert out of the way, Minkowski finally blooms back into her commanding, uptight, perfectly prepared and ready to face a shitstorm self. “Head to the entrance. Hera, what do you see?”

“N-nothing Minkowski, I didn’t see anything like this-”

“Eiffel, what’s your take?”

Even with Hilbert’s help, he can’t hear a thing over the alarms. “Uuuuuuuugh, no good commander, too loud to hear anything.”

“Then we need to act fast. I’m going to-”

There’s a crash, and Doug screams, he thinks he’s screaming, he can’t tell over the rush of air pouring in and the sound of grunts and groans, as if there’s a whole army on the other side of the door. Instead there stands a woman, bathed in gold light. There’s blood on her lips and dirt on her dark skin. She spits red on the ground, and the glow around her fades. “Who the hell are you?”

“I believe we should be asking you that.” Minkowski says stiffly, and Doug can see her fist tightening. A desk behind the intruder is now hovering a few inches off the ground, just in case.

“Alright. If that’s how you want to play it, fine. I’m Isabel Lovelace, and I’m here to destroy all of you.”

“Isabel Lovelace.” Minkowski repeats, and Hera says, “That’s not possible.”  

Doug, ever the sensible one, squeaks out, “Whoa whoa whoa, destroy us?!”

“It is possible, because I’m here, and I’m going to kill you.” Her eyes are burning. “And when your precious backup gets here, I’m going to kill them too. And I’ll make my way to the AM, free all the innocent people have hurt, and burn the building to the fucking ground. You can’t get rid of me. I just. Keep. Coming back.”

Then, everything happens at once. For once, Doug sees it instead of hears it.

Hilbert stumbled back into the room, and he’s letting out choked gasps.

Isabel is glowing gold and then suddenly, there’s  _ two _ of her, and one is dashing at Hilbert.

The other is knocked out cold, because Minkowski put her floating desk to good use.

The second Isabel grabs Hilbert, she’s tackling him to the ground, but when the first is on the ground, she blinks, and multiplies again. The third Isabel Lovelace is more visibly relaxed. “Atypicals?”

“What did you think we were?” Hera demands, vibrating with anger. She normally doesn’t fight, when they were on the run all they needed was Minkowski and a really big boulder, but she seems ready now. “Agents in a safe house?”

“Kid, this is the worst safe house you could possibly be in. Selberg over there is an agent, hiding innocent Atypicals before the AM sweeps in and kidnaps them. He did that to my old crew. And the agents on my tail are the ones who tormented them.”  
“You _lead AM agent's here?!_ ”

Minkowski’s snarl is waved away. “You got caught up in my war. But I can help you when it’s over. What am I working with here? Levitation,” she says, glancing away from Minkowski’s glower.

“Future sight and regular human.” Hilbert growls.

“ _ What was that. _ ” Could have been Minkowski, but he isn’t sure which because he can’t hear anything for some reason. He can see Hilbert’s grave face, Hera’s shaking hands, and Lovelace’s look of pity as Hilbert mentions the drugs, but all he can hear is the blood in his ears.

 

“C’mon Doug,”

It’s so loud, everything else isn’t coming through, it’s just his  _ voice _ taking over his thoughts. That’s never happened before, why isn’t anything else coming through?  _ C’mon Doug, focus.  _

“Selberg did that to you, didn’t he?”

He couldn’t even hear Lovelace come in. “What?”

She clears her throat. “Sorry, Hilbert. He tested on you. Didn’t he?” Doug pulls his hands away from his head, stunned into silence. She nods. “That’s what I thought. Stay back here. You’re not going to want to be around when the AM agents get here.”

 

Doug took that to mean ‘you have some time, but you should stay out of the way you weak little human’.

Doug did not take that to mean ‘they’re on the way and you’re going to be ambushed in the kitchen, so grab a snack on the way to hiding’.

“Put your hands where I can see them, Eiffel.”

Doug raises his arms slowly, still holding a frosty hot pocket. He knows that voice. He’s been running from it for years.

Warren Kepler stands in the kitchen with a gun, flanked by his trusty partners, Daniel Jacobi, boy on fire, and Maxwell, not a mutant super genius but might as well be. “Howdy. Surprised you didn’t hear us coming and get the door for us.”

 

With Doug as a hostage, it’s easy to get Minkowski and Hera to stand down. Lovelace is feisty, but the threats eventually get to her.

“I don’t think so, Isabel. We wired this place before we came in. One spark from Mr. Jacobi here and this whole place goes up in flames.”  
“Even your friends here?” Lovelace snarls, and Kepler laughs. “I take it you have it all figured out, now don’t you?”

“I always do Lovelace. And if you want to stay alive to, you know, kill us, you might want to back down. Maxwell, escort her out. Hilbert, old friend, tell me what you got here.”

Hilbert clears his throat, looking uncomfortable for the first time Doug has ever seen. “The same Atypicals I mentioned in my reports. Future sight, levitation, and our former Class C. I’ve been testing on him, and now he’s basically a human with above average hearing.”

“As usual, your choice of subjects is astounding. Still. Jacobi, take him to the back. I’m not interested in his kind.”

 

“Just relax Doug. I won’t hurt you. Unless you want me too,” Jacobi winked, which was not as charming as it would have been, considering his shoulders were on fire and he was holding a harpoon. Scary shit.

It was so tiring, dealing with all the scary shit.

No, don’t go there Doug. Stay focused. Keep him talking. Be cool. “Why would I want you to hurt me, Jacobi?”

“I don’t know, maybe you’re into that-”

“Don’t-  _ why _ are you doing this? Don’t talk to me like we’re friends.” Shit, he lost his cool.

“Aww, Dougie, I thought we were friends. We’re pretty similar, you and I.”

“We are  _ nothing alike _ .”

He smiles. “Huh. You know I  _ was  _ gonna say something about our loyalty to our friends, our general tomfoolery, but instead, I think I’ll agree with you. We’re nothing alike. Because I’m Atypical. And you’re not anymore.”

 

For a moment there, he believed him.

Then he could hear Hera’s quiet sobs from the other room.

Doug gritted his teeth. He couldn’t hear anything else.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Seasons Three everyone!! Please accept my humble little fic (I'll be editing this again soon, it's not nearly as angsty as I was hoping for). Come talk to me about Wolf 359 at ihaveapencilbehindmyear on Tumblr!


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